That, after a 25-minute trip on the subway.

Now, he's folded his lanky frame onto a metal chair in a cramped L-shaped office where the air is stuffy and the only decoration is the "Hillary for President" signs on the wall.

The wastebasket overflows. A box of tissues lies upside down on the floor. Gray light pushes through two small windows.

Bauer's job of the moment - everybody else has gone to lunch - is to compile a list of supporters who need to be thanked.

Ah, the glamour of a presidential primary campaign.

But Bauer, 18, isn't complaining. In fact, he loves it.

He knew his first, volunteer participation in a campaign wouldn't be like The West Wing. Probably none of the senior staff would ask him for political advice. Sure enough, they haven't. Nobody has suggested that he help craft a strategy to secure Pennsylvania for Hillary Clinton.

But to take part in an enterprise that holds potential to change the world - and on behalf of the one candidate in whom he truly believes - is nothing short of exhilarating.

"I don't think for any other candidate I'd be so committed," Bauer says.

Why not?

"I wanted to pick someone who could deliver on Day One," he says, staying on message like a seasoned pro. "Hillary is the only one who really has that experience and perspective. She's the only one who can go in on Day One and produce positive change."

The Clinton headquarters is a warren of rented offices near the Delaware River, a bustling space that will fall quiet after the April 22 primary. It is a diorama of a modern political campaign - no haze of cigarette smoke, no jangling telephones. Only the chirp of cell phones, the quiet murmur of conversation, and the subtle whirr of computers.

"I really do whatever is needed," Bauer says.

Devoted? He works 40 to 50 hours a week. Free. Don't tell his parents, OK? They're paying a fortune for his schooling, at the University of Pennsylvania. Actually, his parents understand his passion - his Christmas present was a trip to Iowa so he could work for Clinton in the primary there.

In Philadelphia, depending on the day or the hour, Bauer may be knocking on doors or making phone calls. Sometimes he's asked to clean up a spreadsheet. Or he works registering voters. He helped arrange Chelsea Clinton's recent tour of Pennsylvania colleges - it was pretty exciting to be involved in that, he says.

Bauer was 3 when Clinton became first lady, 11 when she joined the Senate.

Growing up on Long Island and being interested in politics and government, he came to admire her work, particularly her efforts on behalf of veterans. His grandfather is a Korean War veteran, and dealing with the VA isn't easy, Bauer says.

Bauer is tall, with red hair and silver glasses, looking every inch the Penn freshman in a blue-striped dress shirt, navy sweater vest and sneakers. On campus he works as communications director of "Penn for Hillary," not the easiest task these days, since the student Democrats voted to support Barack Obama.

Last summer he interned in Clinton's Manhattan campaign office.

That's where he got to meet her. It was a miserably hot day, and Bauer had gone to work wearing shorts and a polo shirt.

"All of a sudden I looked up and Sen. Clinton walks in the door," he says. "I was on the phone. She kind of winked and gave me a thumbs up."

Later she came over, shook his hand, asked how long he'd been involved with the campaign.

"She spent a couple minutes with me, and for someone who is the most famous woman in the world, that's pretty incredible, to spend time with an 18-year-old intern," he said.

He still has the photo.